Category Archives: Nature

2025, animals, Farming Update, Nature, Uncategorized

Shut The Door

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

Nothing too exciting this week. No dog bites or trees on fire.

I made an earring out of an old rabies tag and the township guys thought that was pretty funny. I bought a pair of ‘Animal Handling Gloves’ off Amazon. The tag says they’re not “High tech bomb proof”, but they are puncture RESISTANT. I get my final rabies shot on Monday. So yeah, now that the horse is out…

I’ve been part of a County study group discussing roads, and traffic safety from the Township’s perspective. It’s been interesting. I’ve always said I’m not the idea man, I’m the one who makes your ideas happen, so I don’t have a lot of opinions at these things. Some guys certainly have more to say than I do. It’s an interesting group. The guys all have dirt under their nails, and that one black nail, and are very articulate and well spoken.

Our easter ham was really tasty. We planned on eating about 4:00. But then Kelly and I were being lazy, and then we were doing our Sunday Gator Farm Tour, so it was closer to 3:00 before I put it on the grill. At 3:45 the grill temp was at zero and the propane tank had run out. Not to worry, I had another over in the shed. We ate about 6PM. It didn’t really matter, we had nothing else going on. Monday I worked on machinery. Got the digger tires checked and filled, and I changed some worn out points, (the part that actually goes in the dirt), It’s greased and ready to go. I checked the grain drill tires and it’s greased up and ready. I crawled under the digger three or four times out on the concrete pad. It would have been nicer if there wasn’t so much gravel and dirt on the pad. It’s hard to keep it clean. Even “clean” would help. Later on, I did sweep and use the leaf blower to clean off a bit.

Tuesday I got the corn planter out and tires checked and it’s greased and ready to go. There are multiple places to grease the planter with three zerks under the planter and I can always find two of them, but that third one is tricky. The two don’t move, but that third one rotates and it was pure luck that it ended up right there in front of me.

I put both the 630 and Kelly’s C tractor in the shop. I replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wires, and coil wire on the 630 and it’s running much better. I still need to adjust the timing, and replace a throttle plate, because the throttle lever doesn’t stay forward and the tractor ends up at a slow idle. Sure was nice working in the shop.

I checked the tires on all the tractors. You’d be surprised the large rear tires may only have 8-12 pounds of air in them. Several factors determine that pressure and the goal is to get the best traction with the least amount of soil compaction. They can last a long time on dirt. Running them on the highways causes a lot of wear. New tires might be $4000 each. Imagine putting 8 of them on a tractor. Wednesday morning us five township supervisors met for breakfast at a local diner, and then went out to do our annual road inspection. Yep, all the roads are still there. We have about 30 miles of gravel township roads and we put fresh rock on about 1/3rd each year. We verify those roads need the rock (The average is about 500 tons of rock / mile). Some roads already have a good base and we may only do half that. Depending on the winter, we can get frost boils (mud and dirt coming up through the rock) and they may need more rock. We know of a few culverts that need to be replaced and we make note of trees that need trimming. We look at the bituminous roads and which ones need crack sealing or overlays. Takes about 5 hours to make the rounds. It’s a good bunch of guys and we get along well. Notice I’ve said ‘guys’ in three different township situations. I don’t know of very many women as supervisors. There are women clerks and treasurers, not sure why we don’t have more as supervisors. No reason they can’t be elected.

I went out in the afternoon and cut down trees hanging over the edges of fields. I mention every year how I’m knocking down branches or pushing back brush on the edges. This year I took the gator, three chainsaws, one dog, my safety glasses, chainsaw chaps, and I cut down a lot of trees.

Mostly box elders that lean toward the sun, and end up hanging low over the field edges. Plus some ash trees that have died and are going to fall into the field sooner or later. I only got the chainsaw stuck once! That’s why I have multiple saws. One of them is  battery operated and it’s a pretty impressive saw for battery power. Course a sharp blade is what makes a saw good. I sharpened one with a hand file on the back of the gator, but when the chain came off later, I just used to a different saw. I picked up a cheap electric bench-mounted chainsaw blade sharpener at an auction, and when I got home, I tried it out on one of the blades. I haven’t got the chain put back on to see how I did, but it has to be better. One of these days, weather and time permitting, I’ll be back out there with the tractor and loader and will push the trees off the fields. I must have cut down 30 trees along 1 ½ miles. It’s been a long time since I last did this.

The chicks are doing well. We’ve lost a couple, which always happens, but they’re eating lots and growing well.

Last weekend of our college shows. Band and choir concert next week. Then Commencement on May 14th.

FAVORITE WORD THAT STARTS WITH A ‘Z’?

2025, animals, Family, Nature, Seasons, Uncategorized

Let the Sun Shine

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Most years, our first foray to the zoo is during Farm Babies, which usually starts towards the end of April.  The zoo opens up the Farm and there are usually some baby animals to pet.  It’s not a big a celebration as it was in years’ past, but who can resist petting baby goats.  Not us.

This year, YA broke tradition by waking up last weekend and suggesting we go to the zoo that day.  I didn’t have any plans, so off we went.

Our normal routine is to start with the inside exhibits – first the Tropics and then the Minnesota Trail.  We skipped the Bird Show as they re-jiggered the winter show last year and we didn’t care for it too much.  Then we walked on the lake bridge to see the tigers, caribou and moose then around the Northern Trail – the Bactrian camels were all out sunning together – it looked like they were at a symposium:

The two takins that were out were having a great day, chasing each other around; we’ve never seen them that active.  One of the snow leopards was also enjoying the sunshine (see the header photo).  In fact, that did seem to be the theme of the day; many of the animals were enjoying the sunny day. 

After winding back to the main building through the Grizzly Coast, we had our lunch, augmented with french fries.  Had to hit the gift shop, although we almost never purchase anything.  Then sea lions and weedy sea dragons and sharks before we headed home.  A wonderful day.

How do you like your sunshine?  Porch?  Adirondack chairs?  Chaise lounge?  Hands and knees in the garden? Sun lamp?

2025, animals, Farming Update, Health, Nature, Theatre, Uncategorized

It Is What It Is

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Today’s Farming Update comes from Ben.

Life is what you make out of it. It’s always an adventure.

Monday you’re bit by a dog, Tuesday daughter will run out in bare feet to greet you when you return home, and Wednesday she stands outside your door and says she hates you. Thursday there’s a tree on fire. Is it any wonder I can’t remember what day of the week it is? 

Whoosh! Another week gone. Or maybe that was just the wind on Thursday.

Got the college show open and it is going well. The floor turned out OK and the wall patterns, well, I can’t decide if it looks like giant presents, or wall paper. The concept is still good, it’s just the execution that lost traction. There’s a lot of justification in this if you know the story and think about it long enough. Love, relationships, difficulties in both.

I got corn and oat seed picked up last Saturday,

Got the wagon top swapped on the running gear,

Had all four tractors out and running, and got 3 of them back inside the shed.

Got the shop stereo hooked up to one speaker, and the blu-tooth receiver connected to an old cell phone and streamed Radio Heartland as the inaugural music. Will be better when I get the second speaker mounted, but at least it works.

Monday I got bit by a stray dog I was trying to pick up for the township and spent a few hours in the Emergency Department. I was inspected and injected and injected some more. Two more rabies shots to go (four total) I got a Tetanus booster, and immuglobulin in the ED. Had a great RN and to my astonishment, the ER waiting room was empty when I arrived! Honestly, there are worse things in life, this was nothing. I joked, I’m going to go pick up all the rabid dogs now! The other township guys joked I will need to wear a rabies tag.

I got a call about running another 20 acres of ground in the neighborhood. I’m going to do it, but I also had to run some numbers first. It’s not the best soil, and there are just as many deer there as my place. And with input cost up, and crop prices down, I offered a low rental price. It was accepted for this year, and we’ll see how it does. “Experts” are predicting an increase in farm income, due to Government Rescue payments, and cattle prices are up, but…it’s still going to be a tough year financially.

We had thunderstorms Thursday night, and over an inch of rain, which we really needed. As I came home from the college show, about 9:30 PM, I could see a light where there shouldn’t have been light. A tree was on fire.

I always thought if lightning struck a tree it exploded. Nope, this was just on fire 30 feet up. I called the non-emergency line for the fire department, because I wasn’t quite sure what to do about this. It rained enough after they put it out that there wasn’t a risk of re-igniting. At the time, I didn’t know how much rain we had gotten and I was concerned about the dry grass below it.

We got our new baby chicks on Tuesday. These 40 chicks are Black Australorp, and Barred Rock. Twenty of each.

I used a new hatchery this year due to supply issues with chicks at the hatchery I have been using, and these were the available breeds. We’ve been looking up guineas to order later this summer, and again, some places have NOTHING available for 2025. I’d sure like to do more ducks, but not if they’re only going to get eaten by something.

There’s a female Cardinal really stuck on watching herself in our car Windows.

I did a little fieldwork Thursday afternoon.

It was good to get out in the dirt. And now with the rain, I can take the time to check tires, and grease machinery and replace some parts.

So it’s been a busy week. With the show open and no more evening rehearsals, I hope to get some farming done now.

It always feel like I should have more time, and then suddenly the weather is nice, and the ground has dried up and, worst of all, I’ve seen some neighbors out working, and then I gotta get out there! Springtime is always hard. There’s always a college show to open, and then concerts, and commencement, and depending on how the winter was and how soon the snow melts, assuming we had any, it all affects what all I should be doing at the same time. And it will all get done. I still should cut down some trees hanging over the fields, and I still have branches to pick up in the waterway area. Plus getting the machinery greased and tires checked, and oil changed.

When I swapped the wagon top last weekend, I tightened up the rear wheel bearings and added grease to the bearings on the running gear. That’s not something I do often enough, but this was the perfect time to do it before I put the wagon on top.

We’ve got an Easter ham thawing and I’m looking forward to that.

I’ll promote a place we’ve been ordering meat from lately:

FarmerGrade.com

It was started by a couple guys who raise hogs down in Iowa. They have a Youtube channel and I watch them. They started marketing their own hogs, and it expanded into other farms with beef and chicken. Beef from Sonne Farms in South Dakota (and others). Sonne Farms also have a YouTube page I watch.

Happy Easter.

Take some time to appreciate what you have.

LIGHTNING, DOGS, CHICKENS, AND SHOTS.

WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON?

2025, animals, Family, Music, Nature, Uncategorized

Animal Sounds

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I have always loved the music of Sibelius, and was tickled to hear that he described the third movement of his violin concerto as “a polonaise for polar bears”. What a visual! It is a sort of lumbering piece. I also love the pieces he has done that are inspired by swans.

Carnival of the Animals and Peter and the Wolf are family favorites. Many composers were inspired by animals, like Delius On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring and Vaughan Williams Lark Ascending. Satie wrote about a dreamy fish, and Scarlatti wrote a keyboard sonata called the Cat Sonata. Vivaldi wrote about the goldfinch. Then, of course, there is Gershwin:

What are your favorite animal-inspired musical pieces or songs?

2025, Art, books, Family, Kids, Nature, Poems, Uncategorized

Flower Fairies

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I got a text from our daughter the other day asking if we still had the Flower Fairy books. I told her we had taken them with all the children’s books to our grandson in Brookings. I also told her I would order her another set, and did so.

I don’t know how many Baboons are familiar with these lovely books by British author and artist Cicely Mary Barker, but they have been family favorites since our son was born. Barker wrote and illustrated the books from 1923 to 1948. There about eight of them that feature seasonal flowers and flowers in different settings. The flower illustrations are quite accurate, and each flower is set with a fairy figure whose clothing corresponds to the flower in the illustration, along with a short poem. Barker used children from her sister’s Kindergarten as models for the fairies. Most of the poems were written by her sister.

We found these poems and illustrations wonderful for bedtime reading, as well as a great way to teach our children the names of flowers. We still recite “Scilla, scilla, tell me true, why are you so very blue?” when they pop up under the bay window in the spring.

What were your favorite childhood stories and poems? How did you learn about flowers and plants?

2025, animals, Farming Update, home, Media, Music, Nature, Uncategorized

Down The Hole

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Today’s Farming Update is from Ben.

I was listening to a jazz station the other day and a song came on that I remembered.

“Li’l Darlin’”, a 1958 song by Neil Hefti for the Count Basie Orchestra. And I recall hearing it late nights on MPR with Leigh Kamman and the Jazz Image. I went down an internet rabbit hole looking up Leigh and the Jazz Image. He has a Wikipedia page. He even has a website created by his daughter and others.

https://www.leighkamman.com/

He was on MPR for 34 years, in radio for 65 years.

Born in Minnesota in1922, he grew up in central Minnesota, and spent time during WWII in the Armed Forces Radio. The last edition of The Jazz Image was September 29, 2007, and he passed away in Edina, MN, at age 92 on Friday October 17, 2014. From the look of things, his contribution to jazz music is severely understated.

He used music of Alice Babs as his ‘filler music’. But Li’l Darlin must have been in there somewhere, how else would I have known it? And that led me to Count Basie, and a recording by the DePaul University Jazz Ensemble, and down the hole I went. I had forgotten how poetic he was on the program. From a substack website by Tyler King called “From Astaire to Sun Ra: A Jazz Journey”, there’s are quotes from some of his broadcasts: “wrapped in honey and floating on a cloud” or “Here we are in pursuit of a timber wolf howling across Miller’s Bay, Leach Lake; and we are headed to Star Route, Walker, Minnesota zip code 56484.” Pretty good imagery!

And in the words of Duke Ellington, “If it sounds good, it is good.”

Thanks for the memories, Mr. Kamman.

It must be spring as the college put out the ‘Ornery Goose’ seasonal email.

The college has several nesting geese. This one has moved to a new spot in the parking lot this year.

At home, I picked up the driveway markers, and I took off the rear blade, but I haven’t taken down the snow fence yet.

I have started picking up sticks, branches, and roots from the dirt work done last fall. It’s a little too muddy in places yet, especially with the rain and snow we’ve been getting lately, but there’s a lot to pick up and we’ll get them eventually.

And before it snowed and rained last week, I cleared a downed tree off the edge of a field and pushed brush back into the trees along the edge. Trying to keep nature at bay. Or least in its place. It’s a yearly battle.

The weather was so nice Friday evening, Kelly and I and the dogs sat out on the veranda for an hour. We didn’t have wine or even chairs; we just sat on the steps and talked and watched the chickens and the clouds and the world go round.

I’ve had three electricians working in the shop this week. One journeyman and two apprentices. There is so much planning and forethought required in this, it is one of those situations where I’m paying for his 20 years of practice, in addition to the 3 days of work. Look at the skill it takes to create concentric 90-degree bends. Plus, all the code requirements, and the cleanest way to get all the wires where they need to be with the least amount of conduit.

Part of me wonders why I hired this out and didn’t do it myself? All the aforementioned is why. Plus, he has a scissor lift.

I did pick up the lift early and mount the lights to the ceiling, and I’ll install the ceiling fans myself, but they’re doing the hard work.

It will be nice to have the large garage door opener hooked up, and outside lights when needed, and better inside lighting, and outlets all over, and a dedicated outlet for the air compressor, and two welder outlets! One inside, one outside!

Can’t wait. It’s gonna be SO COOL! And then really, I’m gonna stop spending money. On this.

I moved some tractors on Tuesday. I was going to hook up the big tractor to the soil finisher, my main spring implement, but decided it wasn’t quite time for that yet.

Moved the scrap metal tote outside so I can get to the grain drill. And it will be time to pick up seed shortly.

It’s interesting the chives growing wild are greening up, but the chives in the pot are not yet. The ground stays warmer than the cold air surrounding the pot I suppose is the reason.

JAZZ MUSIC IS THE THEME THIS WEEKEND

2025, animals, Farming Update, Food, gardening, Kids, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized

Maple-ing. The Ambiance.

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Although I probably won’t go down again to boil sap, I truly enjoyed the experience.  Part of it was learning all about the process, but a lot was also the ambiance.  Not in any particular order…

The weather was just about perfect.  It started about bright and sunny (I put on sunscreen) and even when it clouded up in the afternoon, the temperature seemed just right for boiling.  Not cold enough that you really felt it but not warm enough that the work made us sweat.  There was a short rain shower after dark, but when it cleared up, the stars in the night sky were amazing.  As a city gal, I never see stars like that.

Before dinner we had tea but instead of plain old boiling water, we used the boiling sap.  Very sweet tea but wonderful drinking it outside.

There was good company while we were working.  Astrid is a big dog with a big deep bark but a big softie; after dark we heard coyotes and while Astrid worked hard to convince us that she was a guard dog, she didn’t move more than 20 feet from us.  Whiskey looks like a cat, but he is really a dog.  He comes when he is called, hangs around most of the day for petting and doesn’t seem to think the rain matters at all.

My godson doesn’t actually “farm” but is embracing country lifestyle.  He was happy to tell me about all the classes he has taken at the local folk school (bee keeping, chain saw safety, how to “manage” chickens, syrup making and to show me all the improvements he’s made to the house and outbuildings. He has some animals: chickens and a mean rooster (I have bruises to prove it) and also a small herd of goats.  He has just acquired a male, so perhaps there will be kids and milk in the future.  I shared with him the wonderful soaps that Barb made when she had goats.

He is also a terrific cook and by the time he went in to make dinner, I had a handle on the boiling so didn’t need to panic.  Several of the borscht ingredients come from their garden and it was delicious.  Just soup and toasted baguettes.  Yummy.

Children.  He has three kids – 7, 5 and 3.  I got to play Legos with the youngest.  Lots of racing “vehicles” and crashing.  The 5-year old was obsessed with arithmetic so we did a ton of “what is ten plus ten” and other combinations.  He hasn’t worked on subtraction yet, so we did some “what is three minus two”, using fingers.  There was a very lively conversation after the 7-year old got home from school concerning the weight of the earth and how you would weigh it.  He’s got a lot on the ball for seven and there was gravity walls/barriers and gravity robot discussion.  My godson brought up the planet-building spheres from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, to which I replied that the weight of the earth is clearly 42.  The 7-year old didn’t get this joke but god son did!

It was just a wonderful trip, even if you don’t count the maple syrup (and a bonus small bottle of their black walnut syrup which I’ve had before and it fabulous).  I can’t imagine how it could have been better!

When was the last time you just really enjoyed something?

2025, animals, home, Nature, Uncategorized

Close Encounters

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Husband has been keeping the bird feeder in the back yard full this winter. Once he fills it, the sentinel chickadee who sits in the lilac hedge and watches him sounds the news, and pretty soon the feeder and the ground below are full of birds. They swoop into the feeder area in groups, and others wait their turn in the lilac hedge and the grapevines on our deck.

We have two very tall spruce trees in the front yard, and many birds hang out there, especially the Eurasian Collared Doves. They also visit the feeder and eat the seed that falls onto the ground. They nest in the spruces and we hear hungry baby doves all summer.

One day last week I was backing out of the driveway when I spotted an American Kestrel sitting on the ground in one of our flower beds right by the sidewalk. It was devouring a dove. The kestrel didn’t seem to mind me at all. It was intent on the fat dove. It always amazes me how small kestrels are. I love the bluish grey on the head and the checkerboard pattern on its underside and legs. It finally flew off with the dove in its claws.

This is not the first kestrel we have had. I have seen them swoop into the spruce trees on one side and emerge seconds later on the other side carrying off a squawking dove. It gets pretty exciting here sometimes!

Any close encounters for you this past couple of weeks? What is your favorite raptor?

2025, animals, Family, Farming Update, home, Kids, Nature, Weather

I Spy

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The weekend Farm Report comes to us from Ben.

Every time I went outside this past week I’d say “Hooo Doggie!” like Jed Clampet. It was kinda brisk.

No one was very interested in going outside.   

The chickens were very happy to just hang out in the coop.

The guys working on the tower didn’t come back until Wednesday morning, and then Thursday they had a crane helping them.

Taking daughter into town one morning and I was telling her about a dream I had. (I have a lot of theater and lighting dreams). I was expounding on dream interpretation, when she said, “Okay Dad”. Ah. Point taken. I stopped talking. And I thought she was hanging on my every word.

The bathroom remodeling is in the dusty ‘sanding drywall’ phase. The guys are doing a pretty good job putting up plastic and sealing things, but that dust…it gets everywhere. Kelly taped baffles over the gap at the bottom of the doors, and even that didn’t help. I picked up my computer mouse and there was a dusty outline of that. And that was at the far end of a room with the door closed. Sigh. Part of the deal. This too shall pass. That’s Humphrey peeking through the plastic in the header photo, he’s just wondering when this will finish. Kinda like daughter. The guys know it’s not personal when she comes out of her room and yells, “WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO BE DONE!??” It’s just messing up her routine.

I’m making progress organizing the shop. Construction is basically done, other than adding shelving or cabinets, and I do have to finish installing some screws on the ground row (because I hate getting down on the ground unless I must, I put off installing those screws) and a couple other places I realized I forgot to install screws. I’ve mounted an air hose reel inside, and finished the wall outside, and moved some toolboxes. There’s a couple things I’m not sure I should mount until the electricians are finished. I’ve ordered some fancy dancy lights: A bunch for inside, a couple big ones outside the shop doors, a small one over the walk-in door, and two over the work bench.

Luna the dog. Short for ‘Luna-tic’. When we go outside, she’s so excited to be out doing something, she spends most of the time hopping on her back legs chewing on my hand. We learned a new trick where she bites a big stick, and I can spin her in circles. Well, I myself can’t spin too many circles before I fall over, but she loves it.

Bailey hates to be left out.

And all three dogs love eating the corn I throw out for the chickens. Luna will eat right out of the bucket while I’m dumping it out.

They’re all so weird.

Last week I got seed ordered for spring. This week all the necessary fertilizer and chemicals was confirmed. My goodness, nothing is getting cheaper. $30,000 this week. It’s only money!

Saturday is the Met in HD opera movie. ‘Aida’. It’s a long opera, 3 hour 15 minutes. I’ll be getting the large popcorn. And taking a nap. During the movie I mean. I can’t stand the music, but I enjoy the “production” of it all. 

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD TO EAT RIGHT OUT OF THE CONTAINER?

2025, Business, Fantasy, Gatherings, Nature, Uncategorized

Warm Floors

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At the sibling gathering (while I was visiting Nonny in St. Louis earlier this month), someone must have mentioned something about heated floors.  I made a note on my post-it note app, assuming (ha ha ha ha) that the words “heated floor” would trigger my memory for what I thought might be a blog piece.  Again, ha ha ha ha.

About 25 years ago, I had a site inspection scheduled to San Francisco and Napa.  The morning of the trip, the client called to cancel due to his wife’s illness but he told me to go ahead, see what I needed to see and take good notes and pictures.  No problem on my part.

The plan for the group was to do a day of wineries and a lovely lunch.  However the group was too big to be at any one winery at once (most of the Napa wineries are actually pretty small) so we needed to split up the group.  Group A and Group B went to different wineries in the morning, had lunch together at a place that could hold them all and then the groups would flip and do the wineries for the afternoon.  Easy peasy, right? 

In one long day, I visited 11 wineries to find the four that would work well for the group.  Each owner met me, toured me around and… offered me samples.  There didn’t feel like a gracious way to turn down the wine.  Even though I never finished an entire glass, by the end of the day, I was a bit tipsy.  Add to that the weather was chillier than had been forecasted and my coat was not up to the job.  By the time we got to the hotel, Meadowood Resort, all I wanted was to have a bit of room service and collapse in a warm bed.  

With all that liquid refreshment, I ended up having to visit the bathroom in the middle of the night.  It was chilly as I walked across the bedroom and then…. oh my stars… the bathroom floor was warm.  The first and last time I’ve personally ever come across heated floor tiles.  And of all the times I could truly appreciate them, there they were!  When I finally left and headed back to bed, I slept like a baby.

If this wasn’t what I was thinking about when somebody at the sibling gathering mentioned heated floors, then I’m completely in the dark.

If money weren’t an issue, what home improvement would you like to make?